Mistaken Identity
by apskepner
Summary: A couple with a young son come to the ER, and April begins to question everything about the life she once knew. Canon through 11x07; semi-AU with Private Practice storyline references.
1. Judy

**This is my first published story. Please be kind :)  
I'm not quite sure if this will have more chapters, I'm just taking this one step at a time.**

**I've had this idea since seeing Sarah Drew play two different characters on Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.**

* * *

"Judy? Judy Andersen? It's me, Carrie Sinclair."

"Ma'am, I'm sorry. But I'm going to need you to check in over there first before I can help you" April said breathlessly after running down the pit after receiving a 911 page.

"I can't believe you are a doctor now. I'm so proud. Your studies must have gone well."

"Ma'am, again, I'm sorry but I can't really chat right now." April said while listening to the patient's breath sounds.

Confused as to why Judy was acting like she didn't even recognize her, Carrie Sinclair went back over to the waiting area, with her husband and her young son.

"Was that her hun?" questioned Jeff Sinclair.

"It was!" Carrie said breathlessly. "I can't believe it's been 6 years since this little miracle came into our lives" Carrie bent down to kiss Michael's forehead.  
"We don't want to get his hopes up Carrie. We should just wait and see if she wants to talk to us again, and meet Mikey."

What a weird coincidence that that a month after moving from Santa Monica to Seattle the Sinclair's would come into contact with their young sons birth mother.

"Momma my leg still is hurting… when can we see the doctor?"

"Soon sweetie, they are just really, really busy right now."

Michael had injured his leg at his little league practice earlier this afternoon, and as concerned parents they thought bringing him to the ER would be the best thing to do. They had heard great things about Grey Sloan Memorial so they drove 30 minutes across town to the emergency room.

"Michael Sinclair" bellowed the nurse. "Behind curtain 3, a doctor will be with you shortly."

The Sinclair's walked over and the nurse pulled the curtain around them.

A few moments later, a doctor appeared."Hi! I'm Dr. Wilson. How are you today Michael?"

"Oh, he's just doing fine. We were just concerned about some leg pain he has been complaining about after his little league game this afternoon."

Jo sat down in the nearby chair and pulled herself closer to the bed. "Okay big guy, let me just see here. "She began to feel around Michael's leg for anything out of place. "I can't feel anything terribly wrong, but we'll get you an x-ray just to make sure, okay?"

"Thanks again!"

"Sure, not a problem. I'm just going to find someone to help take you up to x-ray."

As Jo headed over the nurses station she spotted April, "Hey Dr. Kepner… are you heading up to x-ray?" She only asked this because she saw a pile full of charts in her arms. "Can you even manage those?" Jo eyed her swollen stomach.

"Yeah, Wilson. I'm good, and I am. Why, what do you need?"

"Oh there's just a little boy, age 6, with what seems to be a break in his leg, the parents are hovering and I thought an x-ray would get them off our backs."

"Yeah, Sure. Just get someone to wheel him up and I'll be able to examine the images."

* * *

About 20 minutes later April finally got around to looking at the images of the 6-year-old boys leg. She spotted what looked to be pathologic fracture. How was this little boy even able to put any pressure on his leg she thought to herself. She took the images under her arm and walked towards the waiting area.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Kepner. Sorry about the delay we were kind of backed up down in x-ray. Would you mind sitting down for a moment."

"Judy we are so glad to finally be able to talk to you. We've told Mikey all about you. It is so funny how life can throw all of these things at you, and it somehow turns out great."

"Um ... okay. Well your son looks to have a pathologic fracture, which can be pretty severe. Often a result of osteogenesis imperfecta, since this is Michael's first time here we have none of his previous records. Are you aware of what osteogenesis imperfecta is?"

"Judy, I'm sorry! We've known about Mikey's OI since he was about a year old. He ended up breaking both of his legs while learning to walk."

April was thoroughly confused as to why this couple would not let up calling her Judy. "I'm sorry, I've never met your son before so I don't have any prior knowledge of his medical history. We can set you up with our orthopedic surgeon and she can get a cast on your son, and we can go forward from there. Her name is Dr. Torres and she's great. I'll have her paged and she'll be able to meet you."

April stood up to leave, but Carrie's grasp didn't allow her to get very far.

"Judy, I know this must be difficult for you to process but we did know that Mikey had OI. A very mild form, he has never had any real problems with it. He's lived a happy and healthy life."

"Okay ma'am."

"OI can be very treatable when it is in the mildest form." Carrie placed her had on April's stomach. "We can't believe your having another, this is so great. We are so happy for you. "

"You've achieved everything you could have ever wanted. " Jeff added while glancing at April's large diamond on her left hand.

"Okay." April said bleakly, and turned to walk away.

* * *

"Hey April, you busy? Want to grab lunch?" Arizona smiled as she met up with April in the hallway.

"Hey, yeah sure! I'm just really freaked out right now. I kind of need to sit down."

"What's up?" Arizona turned to April, with concern on her face.

"There's this 6 year old patient and the parents need to be referred to psych."

"Oh wow!" Arizona chuckled. "That kind of day…"

"They keep calling me 'Judy', and have touched my stomach more today than I have."

"Give them a page. They'll be able to handle them."

"Yeah, I will.

* * *

While having lunch in the cafeteria with Arizona, April's pager went off.

"Oh, it's Callie. She wants to me to talk to the parents with her."

"Why Callie?"

"Oh, the kid had a pretty severe fracture. I wanted to her check it out and bandage him up."

"She's a big girl. She can handle it on her own. Don't risk going in front of those parents again." Arizona said with some attitude

April always hated bringing up Callie around Arizona after their breakup. She didn't want to seem like she was taking sides in all of it.

"Yeah, true. Thanks." April looked up from her salad with a half smile on her face.

About 10 minutes later April's phone went off. **CALLIE** displayed on the screen.

Arizona's eyes looked furious. "Honestly…."

"Let me just take it. Just to see what's going on." April said

_Hey Kepner some weird things going on down here.  
Is the boy okay?  
__Yeah he's fine. Good to go. But these parents are going on and on about how you carried their son for them, back in '09, you gave him up for adoption. They really want to talk to you. They want to introduce you to him. _

April dropped her phone into her salad.

"April. What's wrong?" Arizona shot up from her seat, running to April's side.

"I have a son?" April could barely get the words out of her mouth.

Arizona looked at April, puzzled. "Yes, we know. We saw him on the ultra sound last week! He's going to have Jackson's eyes…"

"No. Those parents. They think I'm their child's biological mother."

"That makes no sense. Wasn't Jackson your first, at the boards?"

"Yes."

"You are sure right? No drunken nights?"

"Arizona, I would have known that I gave birth."

"Okay, well yeah. But… maybe you need a psych consult" Arizona tried to force a laugh.

"This makes no sense. That was the year of the merger. I was here. You guys know I wasn't pregnant."

"Okay. We can handle this. We'll just call security. Get those creeps out of here." Arizona lifted her phone to her ear. First calling Jackson.

_Hey, Avery. We need you.  
__Oh god is April okay?_  
Yeah, and – uh, no. Can you meet us?  
Yeah, I'm down by OR 2, _I'm just about to scrub in. Meet me here?  
__Yeah, we'll be right there._

April and Arizona left the cafeteria and headed to OR 2.

April was having trouble breathing.

"Arizona, I – I, I don't know what's going on and I can't, can't – I can't breathe."

"April, relax. You have nothing to even worry about. These people obviously think you are someone else, or are just straight up psychos."

"April –" Jackson pulled off his mask and ran toward her. "Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. We – well," Arizona was trying to put together her words as April sat down in a nearby chair.

Arizona pushed Jackson aside and told him about April's afternoon.

"What? That's nuts. Jesus!" He started angrily dialing on his phone. "I'm calling security and we are getting those people out of this hospital."

"No, Jackson. Wait. Maybe I should talk to them. They obviously think I'm somebody else. Maybe we could help them." April said meekly.

Arizona and Jackson's eyes met. "Only April…." They both said under their breath.

"Okay, we'll - we'll talk to these people. We can tell them about San Francisco if you want, and how about 100 people can vouch for your being here in 2009…. not pregnant." Jackson said while caressing April's shoulders.

* * *

The three of them made their way down to the lobby.

"Judy" the Sinclair's exclaimed once seeing April come off the elevator.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair. I'm Jackson Avery. I'm a plastic surgeon and a board member here at Grey Sloan. I'm also Dr. Kepner's husband."

They both smiled at him, "We're so glad to meet you!"

"I think we might have some confusion on our hands. This here is April, April Kepner and she has been here at Grey Sloan since 2009, back when we were known as Seattle Grace Mercy West. I've personally known her since our intern days, many years prior to that." She and I, We – uh, April waited until marriage. She could not possibly be your sons biological mother."

"Oh, oh. I'm sorry, but you are identical to Judy. We were apart of a pilot program down in California in 2009 at Oceanside Wellness; we met Judy and adopted her son after she gave birth to him at St. Ambrose hospital. We are sorry for any confusion. We just thought it was something difficult for you to talk about, and we were just so excited to see you again. Mikey has this little picture book that has always carries around with him, with a picture of you – uh, I mean Judy inside of it, when he was born. He always talks about you on Mother's day. We've been very open with telling him about how you helped us make our dreams come true."

"Go get it!" Carrie urged Jeff. Jeff went back over to the waiting area and rummaged around in Carrie's bag. Michael was just sitting there playing on his iPod with ear buds in his ears.

"Here! Here is it." Carrie opened to the third page of the small book.

In unison, Jackson, Arizona and April looked up at each other. The small crumpled image of what looked to be April holding a small infant in her arms wrapped in a blue blanket. It eerily resembled April back in 2009, in the early days of the merger.

"Well this is unexplainable." Arizona stepped forward, speaking on behalf of Jackson and April who were unable to form words.

"I'm sorry, but April is not the women that you think she is. I'm terribly sorry to get your hopes up, and we hope you are able to find Judy someday." Arizona placed her arms around April and ushered her away from the commotion.

* * *

Moments later, in the attendings lounge Jackson was trying to comfort April; "Do you have any family members that look just like you?" Jackson asked as he rubbed April's thigh to comfort her.

"Jackson, that's not really helping. If I knew, this wouldn't be an issue in the first place." April rolled her eyes. "My sisters, my mom, my dad, other than that we don't have anyone else really. My grandparents passed away when I was young. My mother had a brother but he passed when she was young, and my Dad had two brothers, none of which married. It is honestly only my sisters and I. I have no idea who this 'Judy' person is."

"That girl looked so much like you. I know people say you have doppelgängers out there, but that girl looked identical to you. She has to be related. If not, she took a picture of your beautiful face and brought it to a pretty handy plastic surgeon."

"Jackson, please. This is just some weird mix up. I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

* * *

Later that evening at home April picked up the phone to call home to her mother, she ended up calling around twice a week - especially now with being pregnant, her mom and dad often wanted updates on the baby.

April filled her mom in on everything that was going on, and finally got around to what she made the call for in he first place. Filling her mother in on her drama filled day with that couple, and the little boy. "They thought I was his mother. It was the craziest thing. They showed a picture that they had of his biological mother and she looked just like me. Apparently her name was Judy and she gave birth to him in California back in 2009. Mom - mom…?" Karen did not reply "You still there?" April said with worry. She heard her mom crying on the other line.

"Judy" she managed to speak.

"Yes, her name was Judy… Did I already tell you that?"

"No, sweetheart. Judy. Our other daughter."

"Other…. Daughter?" April could barely form a sentence.

"Yes, we always wanted to tell you, we just didn't know when. It it was so very difficult for us. You know back when Daddy had just got the farm when Libby was a baby, and then I was pregnant with you and we weren't doing so well. We didn't have much money, and babies were very expensive. The farm, you know, that was before it took off and started doing well. You and your sister were born, and we had to do what was best for our family. We couldn't afford to have three small babies. I wasn't working, and it was a struggle to make ends meet at that time. We desperately wanted to keep her, but we did what –"

"Another child? I had a twin sister that you just gave away?"

"We didn't give her away easily sweetie. It was hard. We don't like talking about it."

"Why me, why did you keep me and not her?"

"You were born first. That's how we decided. We never even held her because we didn't want to get attached. She also had a small medical issue." Karen mumbled.

April was too hung up on the first part of the sentence to be able to catch the second half.

"So you give away a child, and then you had Kimmie like a year later? How does that make any sense?"

"Sweetie. The farm started doing well. Everything started falling into place a few months after you were born."

"So why didn't you try to get her back?"

"It was a closed adoption at the request of her new parents. We only got one picture of her, on her first birthday. All we knew was that her name was Judy and that they had moved to California."

"So, when were you planning on telling me this?"

"We never wanted to hurt you, or your sisters."

"Well mom, this hurts. This is a huge part of my life that I knew absolutely nothing about, and this poor family wanted their son to meet his birth mother. I just thought they were crazy people." April hung up on her mother, furious about her discovery and threw the phone across the room.

"April?" Jackson looked out the bedroom door. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure, everything's fine. I just have a twin sister I didn't know about for thirty-three years."

"A twin sister?"

"Yes, and her name is Judy. Those people thought I was my sister. Who I didn't even know existed. She gave birth to the Sinclair's son. That's my nephew that I met today." April began to break down into tears in Jackson's arms.

"April, it's okay. It's not your fault."

"It is my fault. I was born first. That's the only reason why my parents are my parents. I could have easily been the one given up for adoption. Who even knows if she had a good life? Was she happy? What was she like?"

"Don't talk like that April. I'm sure we can find her and you can meet her."

"I'm not sure if I even want to meet her. She'll hate me."


	2. Liar, Liar

**Hey Everyone! Thanks for all the reviews; I really appreciate it - here's chapter 2 for you!**

* * *

April awoke the next morning, gently rubbing her eyes. Hoping that last night was just a dream.

"Hey." Jackson said softy, passing April a small glass of orange juice in bed.

"Morning." April said while forcing a smile.

"I was just about to head into work, I have back to back surgeries today. But I can wait for you if you want."

"No, it's fine. I don't have anything scheduled until later on today."

"Okay, well, page me and hopefully I'll be able to squeeze you in."

"mmhm" April replied groggily.

As Jackson exited their bedroom, April buried herself back into the blankets. She was having a difficult time with all this new information. She never felt like she belonged in her family, her three sisters were always the beautiful ones; the ones who always had everything come easy for them. They never had to work a day in their lives. They married young, had beautiful children and all lived in small town Ohio.

Even though April was now happily married and settled down with everything she could ever imagined. Something inside of her really wondered, was this other sister, her twin, like her at all? Was she dorky in middle school? Was she the ugly duckling of her family? Did she get weird rash on her elbow, too? Did she – ? April ran her finger across the bridge of her nose.

Getting out of bed was a bit on the challenging side now, her back ached and her ankles were starting to swell. She groaned as she bent over to retrieve her slippers. April then walked out towards the kitchen, and slowly turned back around to grab her laptop the bedroom.

"I knew I was forgetting something." She mumbled to herself. With the laptop now securely under her arm, she walked towards the kitchen table.

After placing a cushion on the chair, she sat and opened up the computer. Into the browser she typed 'JUDY ANDERSON' into the Google search bar the results returned a librarian in Canada, and an obituary of a 90-year-old women who passed away last week. "Okay, so… not her. Maybe she spells it with an 'ie',? Maybe she's married? Maybe she changed her name and goes by an alter ego?" After trying every possibly way of spelling her name, April finally gave up. Mentally and physically exhausted after her lengthily searching, it was time to head into work for the day.

* * *

Once at work, April's snooping got the better of her again. "Hey, chief." she said while spotting Owen by the nurse's station. "I just need to have access to some files from yesterday. I think I might have made a mistake, I just need to correct something." April was hoping he wouldn't question why she needed into the archived files. Only the chief was allowed to edit files that had been completed.

"Kepner and mistake in the same sentence." Owen laughed "Sure. No problem." He entered his 10-digit password to give her access to the archived files. "Since it's just from yesterday it should be near the top." Owen said as he walked away. "Just make sure to sign out after, thanks Kepner!"

"Perfect. Thanks Chief."

After the x-rays had been imputed into the system yesterday, April asked one of the residents on staff to contact Michael Sinclair's pediatrician back in California. She just wanted to make sure the file was done correctly. That's all. Her eyes quickly examined the screen. "Perfect." She said to herself, eyeing the phone number she was looking for on the chart. She pressed print, eagerly wanting a copy of the file for herself. She stood up and calmly walked to the printer and folded the paper into 4 and shoved in inside her lab coat pocket. Remembering to press log out before leaving.

* * *

April quickly made her way to the research library on the 6th floor. She hadn't been up there in years. Well, since before her boards. She knew it would be a perfect place to make a private phone call.

_This is a long distance number. If you are sure you want to continue. Press one. Charges may apply. _This had sort of been an awakening. What was she doing? Was this even legal?

"Seaside Health and Wellness, Samantha speaking, how may I assist you?"

"Um, uh – hi. I'm Dr. Kepner from Grey Sloan Memorial hospital in Seattle. I was just dealing with a former patient and I was wondering if I could speak to someone in regards to some questions I have."

"Yes, sure. Whom can I direct this call to?"

"Well, there's a Dell Parker on the file. He was the midwife."

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry. There's no Dell Parker here, and there hasn't been for many years. This patient obviously hasn't been here for a while. I don't think we would be able to help you."

"Well, um, I need to know about the patient at the time of his birth, just, to – um, put some things together. Is there a new number to contact Mr. Parker at?"

"Dell Parker has passed away."

"Oh, I – I'm terribly sorry. Sorry for any trouble I may have caused you. Thank you anyways." As April was about to hang up the phone, frustrated about the fact that the only possibly link to someone knowing Judy was dead.

"We might be able to dig through some old files if it's an emergency."

"Wow, yes! That would be great. It is, it needs to be attended to immediately."

"What year?"

"2009. The birth mother on file would have been listed as 'Judy'."

"Mm, okay. I'm just checking our system here. So, the patients name was Judy?"

"Um no. No, it is Michael Sinclair. I just need to have access to the birth mothers files for medical reasons, you know?"

"I don't think we can do that. Since she was just the birth mother, and there are no connections now."

"Well, its, uh – for, we need to know her blood type. We need to do a transplant. We need to know the birth mothers blood type." April was hoping this lady was just a secretary and had no idea that this all made absolutely no sense.

"Oh, okay. Well, sure. The number we have on file for her is from 2009, it might be outdated now."

"Oh that's fine. That'll do."

"Okay, so the name listed is Judy Andersen, 424-564-4492"

"Perfect, could you spell that out for me?"

"J-U-D-Y; A-N-D-E-R-S-E-N"

"Great! Thanks so much for all your help. Have a great day."

No wonder April only found a librarian and an obituary. She was spelling her last name wrong the entire time. She glanced down to the bank of the printed out chart where she had just scribbled the number. She didn't know if she should just try calling right now, just to see if she could get through or not.

"Dr. Kepner…What are you doing up here?"

A shocked and frantic April glanced up and saw Jo Wilson standing at the other end of the table.

"Um, I'm just doing some research." April eagerly grabbed the nearest book off the shelf.

"The male penis?" Jo read the front cover out loud. "For what?"

"Just, uh, you know some light research reading…."

"Okay Kepner..." Jo smiled, and continued on past her.

April couldn't believe she had already lied to three different people today. This was nothing like her. This whole thing was getting the better of her, taking over every thought she had.

* * *

"April?"

A familiar voice came up behind her as she was walking out of the elevator. She turned around to see, "Jackson. Hi." She smiled. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." He placed his hand on the small of her back. "Where have you been all day? I went to OB to try to find you. I wanted to come to the appointment. I had some spare time between surgeries." He opened his eyes wide towards her stomach.

"My appointment… my appointment" April frantically remembered she had an appointment today at 4pm; she quickly glanced down at her phone, the time read 5:43pm. She had to come up with something on the spot - "It was cancelled. Emergency C-section or something." Liar, liar pants on fire is what her sisters would have chanted at her when the were young... they probably still would if they got the opportunity to.

"Oh. You sure? Because they called your name at least four and you were nowhere to be seen." Jackson furrowed his brow.

"Oh, well, um…"

"Kepner you little perv!" Alex had a wide smile on his face as he walked towards Jackson and April. "Jo told me you were checking out some penis in the library."

April had never been so glad for Alex to interrupt her mid sentence.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. I was doing research"

"In the library with all the residents?" questioned Jackson

"Yeah, I just needed some specific material that I knew they would have in there."

"Sure Kepner." Alex playfully rolled his eyes and continued on his way down the hall.

"Okay, well. I have a board meeting. I should be home some time after 7." Jackson turned towards April, "love you."

"Love you too." April said while feeling a twinge of quilt in the back of her mind. Jackson definitely knew something was up. He had known April for almost 10 years now. They were best friends before they got married. They told each other absolutely everything. He knew when she was holding something back.

* * *

By the time Jackson got home, it was almost 9pm. He wondered where April was because the apartment was in complete darkness. "April?" he called out.

"Yeah? I'm in here." She called out from the nursery. She had only a small lamp on in the large room and where she was sitting on the floor with what looked to be a scrapbook.

"What are you doing?"

"Just putting together some stuff for the baby book. I thought I'd get a head start" She looked up at him, and smiled.

"Okay, well you can turn some lights on. You had me worried."

"I'm sorry. I just have a headache and all of the light was killing me."

Jackson knelt down behind April, caressing her shoulders and kissing the back of her neck.

"Mmm what are you doing?"

"Saying hi to my wife. Is that allowed?"

"Yes, of course it is." She turned back to smile at him.

"So lets see this thing. It looks great so far."

"Yeah, I thought I start with what we know."

Jackson looked down at the paper embossed with small yellow ducks. "A family tree?"

"Yeah, I thought we could make one. I can do mine, and you can do yours. Or you could just tell me yours and I could write it out so you don't spoil the pages with your terrible penman ship." She giggled.

He noticed that she left a blank space beside herself on the tree, likely where Judy would fit in. He knew that all of this was difficult for April, but he didn't know exactly how hard it was hitting her.

"Hey, you know, everyone has things about their family, and their life that they aren't sure of, or don't particularly care for. Like my dad for example; I don't even remember him. It's possible I have 100 siblings out there. Just because you don't know her, doesn't mean your life is any less valid. Your life is what you make of it, and I think we did a damn good job. Our kid is going to have the greatest parents."

"Jackson, I just – it's different for me. I want to know her; I just have to know her. She's apart of me. I feel like my life would have been entirely different had I had known her, and grew up with her."

"But that part is over. You can't change the past. What if you weren't in the ER yesterday, you wouldn't have even known about her."

"But I was – I was there, this happened for a reason, and that's why I skipped out today."

"Yeah I know."

"What do you mean, 'you know'?"

"Nobody had seen or heard from you all day. You missed your OB appointment. You were in the library where all the interns and residents hang out. Something must have been up."

"I was trying to find her. I went through Michael Sinclair's records and contacted the private practice that helped with his adoption." April turned to face Jackson, her head in her hands.

"Okay, so, what did you find?"

"Nothing. There's a phone number, that's It."

"Have you tried calling it?"

"No. I'm too nervous."

"Let me call." Jackson pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "Where's the number?"

April reached into her cardigan pocket; "here"

Jackson entered the digits into his phone.

"Is it?"

"It's ringing." Jackson reached out towards April's hand to comfort her. He then put the call on speakerphone.

"Hello?" a women's voice answered

"Hi, uh – is this, uh – Judy?"

"I'm sorry she's not in right now, can I take a message?"

"Um, nope, nope. That's good thanks anyways. I will just – call back later." He was trying to get some sort of cue from April of what to do, but he panicked and hung up the phone.

"You didn't think leaving a message was a good idea?" questioned April.

"What was I supposed to say; 'hey I think I have tour twin sister on the line, want to chat?' … We'll just call back tomorrow or something."

"That might have been her. She could have just said it wasn't because of the long distance number. Maybe she thought we were trying to sell her something."

"April, let's just think rationally about his. We are calling her after 9pm on a Thursday night with a long distance number. We probably just creeped her out a little bit. "

"Jackson."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for doing that with me. I just – I really appreciate it."

"You know I'd do anything for you. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Let's go to bed. I'm exhausted after my surgeries today." Jackson said with a yawn.

"You can't be pulling back to back surgeries and board meetings once this little guy gets here. We want you around." April reached out her arms towards Jackson for some assistance getting up off the rug.

"I know. I won't."

"Okay. Good." April smiled.


	3. The Baby Shower

**New chapter! Sorry for the delay. Thank you so much for all the kind words about this story, I really appreciate it! :)**

* * *

Almost two months had passed, and April was entering into her third trimester. She was working less, but managing to keep herself busy around the apartment as much as she could. She often found herself trying out new recipes, or reorganizing the closet. She liked to feel productive while at home.

After a morning board meeting, Arizona came up behind Jackson and tapped him on the shoulder. Without even waiting for a response, she jumped right into conversation. "So, I was thinking we could play 'pass the poop', 'guess the tummy size', 'don't say baby game' you know, all of the standards. Plus, a onesie decorating station is a must!"

"What?" Jackson turned towards Arizona in confusion.

"The baby shower! I was thinking we could do it next week? Just to make sure its enough time to set up a registry and get everything assembled before the big day!"

"Okay. Sure."

"Yay! April and I were causally talking about it before, but I really think it would be better to have it at someone's house, you know – your place, our mine just so she's more comfortable. Plus the last gathering at the hospital was a total bust. We all know the nurses just come for the cake. This time, if they want cake they better bring a decent present!"

"Sounds good."

"Okay. Great! I was also thinking… surprise?"

"A surprise party?"

"Yeah! Don't you think it would be great?"

"Um, sure, yeah. It's a total girls thing, so it's up to you."

"Oh, no, no no no. It's boys and girls! I specifically remember April saying she wanted you there. She wants excitement! So. I'll email you the list of things to get, and then we'll have to go the store and open the registry… either today, or tomorrow and we to get the invites out by no later then Tuesday!"

"Yep!" Jackson yelled towards Arizona, as he was already halfway gone down the hallway.

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing home?" April questioned as she popped her head up over the sofa.

"Just home for lunch. Then I thought we could drive back in together."  
"I just made some egg salad. It's in the fridge." April made her way across the room to the kitchen to greet Jackson. "I'm just going to have a shower and then I'll be ready."

"Sounds good. Take your time."

Their lips met for a quick kiss.

As soon as Jackson heard the door close over, he jumped at the opportunity to look through April's address book. Arizona hadn't stopped texting him all morning requesting the contact information for all of April's family and friends. He spotted a red notebook on her side table and quickly leafed through the pages. While doing so, a piece of paper folded into four dropped at his feet. He bent over to retrieve it, and was shocked by its contents. It was a print out of page 3 of Michael Sinclair's chart. After their not so solid attempt of contacting Judy a couple months back, they hadn't tried again. They had mutually agreed that it wasn't a good time. Their OB had requested that April take things easy and rest as much as possible due to her high blood pressure. They had written it off entirely, for now at least.

Jackson continued to search for the address book, he knew April had one, he had seen her use it just a few weeks ago to send a thank you card to his aunt in Boston after she sent a homemade knitted baby blanket with blue lace. He opened up the drawer to her dresser to find her other ones. He was very thankful for her organization. He glanced over the journals and saw the one on the end with the 'Address Book' label on the spine. The others were yearly journals from the last 5 years; her older ones had a home in the closet. He was going to bring it to the hospital for Arizona to go through, hoping that April wouldn't notice its absence.

* * *

Jackson was laying on the bed hands behind his head, feeling pretty successful after texting Arizona about the address book, he told her he would bring it back after lunch. She replied with a wink face emoji and _mission successful._

April walked into the bedroom with a pink towel wrapped around her body. "Hey, so I got a text from Libby saying that she's coming next week to spend some time with us. Do you know anything about this?"

"No. Nothing. Why?"

"I don't know I just thought it was out of the blue. I haven't talked to anyone in a couple of months… since…"

"But she's your sister. She probably just wants to come and help you get things done before the baby arrives."

"I really don't need her bossing me around and telling what I'm doing wrong."

"She won't do that."

"You didn't grow up with her…" she playfully joked.

Jackson stood up and walked across the room towards April. "Hey…" He said after admiring her beautiful body from afar.

"Don't look at me – I'm huge." Her long auburn hair was wet, and dripping down her back.

"No you're not. You're perfect. Let me get this." Jackson reached down towards the pink towel that was now lying on the floor to get the drips of water off her back.

"Thank you." She cooed.

"Mmhm"

They still had a few more minutes before they were really needed back at work, and they took advantage of them.

* * *

Once back at work, Jackson had made the successful exchange of the red address book to Arizona, warning her to only take what she needed and give it back to him before the end of the day so that April wouldn't notice it's absence.

"Hey, April said she got a text from her sister Libby saying she was coming next week…."

"Well she doesn't quite know how to take instructions does she?" Arizona snarled. "I had her number still in my phone from April's bridal shower and I thought I'd give her the heads up. So much for that."

"April doesn't know anything. She just thinks she's coming for a visit."

"Okay good. She said that she and the others want to help a much as they can, so I guess they are staying at my place."

"Good luck with that."

"Yeah, I have a feeling that I may have more then one inquiry of 'can I try on your leg' by the end of the weekend."

"Is there going to be enough room in your apartment?"

"I hope so. Can't they all share a room?"

They both laughed in unison.

Arizona had rented a two-bedroom apartment down the hall from Jackson and April about a month ago. She was tried of staying in the on call room, or being in an overpriced hotel every night. She was only leasing month by month because she didn't really want to believe that she would never move back home again. The other bedroom was Sofia's but after everything, she didn't get to come over very often anymore. Callie didn't like changing up her routine.

* * *

With the day of baby shower fast approaching, Libby was already coming to town. She insisted on taking a cab, but April went to pick her up. Standing there in dark skinny jeans and a flowing blue cardigan April waved down her sister at the arrivals area.

"Duckie!" Libby called out.

Even though April hated when her sisters called her that, she was still overjoyed to see Libby. They hadn't talked in months.

"I've missed you so much."

"Me too baby sis! Look at you." Libby reached out with both hands towards April's growing belly. "How's everything? Are you still working?"

"Yeah. I try to go in for a few hours here and there."

"Atta girl! I'm so excited to see this place of yours. Mom showed me at least 20 minutes on her new digital camera from when she came to visit you – the pictures looks so nice."

"Yeah, it's just perfect for us, and the nursery is very spacious."

"I can't wait." Libby grabbed her small carry on and placed her arm around April as they exited the airport.

Once at home, April was showing off the nursery to her older sister. Very proud of how it was looking so far. Even though there were some random boxes in the corner, and they still hadn't quite found a place for Jackson's golf clubs yet. She was happy.

"You don't have much yet… when are you planning on buying a bassinet, and a swing, you also need one of those –"

"When we have time. I'm sure the baby doesn't need everything at once anyways. I want to make sure Jackson can come along and be apart of everything, he's just been working a lot lately."

"That's your choice. They baby is going to come when it wants. Newborns don't adhere to plans. Remember when Kimmie almost had her first at a shopping mall. Those things just pop out whenever, wherever."

* * *

Saturday had finally arrived and it was the the morning of the party. April had plans to do a bit of ER work today to make up for some time she had missed during the week. Jackson felt so bad requesting for her to go in but he knew it would be the only way to get her out for a few hours.

Arizona, April's mom, and her sisters wanted to be able to decorate the apartment and prepare all of the snacks and games while April was at work.

Libby had been staying on a blow up mattress in the nursery for two nights, and this morning while she was deflating it she noticed a large scrapbook lying in the crib. She quickly glanced though to compare her skills to April's. 'Not bad' she thought, there wasn't much in it yet. A few pictures of Jackson and April, and a family tree page. "Duckie! Come in here!"

"What?" April managed to waddle into the room with half of her hair in curlers. "I'm getting ready for work."

"This looks so great. I never thought I'd see the day when you would make a scrapbook as nice as one of mine! Plus. I never thought you'd have a baby either, so I'm kind of emotional."

"Thanks Lib." April laughed.

"But what's this? Why is there a space beside you on this family tree? You got me, Kimmie and Alice… What other sibling don't I know of? Your imaginary friend?"

"Nothing. No one." April shot back. This was the first time in months she was really reminded of that night that they tried to call Judy. "It's nothing." She said as she stormed out of the room.

* * *

"Let's get this party started!" Kimmie said, while popping the cork out of a bottle of red wine. April had been gone for all of 10 minutes when Arizona, Alice, Kimmie and Karen had entered the apartment with a spare key that April had given Arizona a few months back when she would stay here over the odd night.

"It's only 11…" Arizona glanced over to the redhead.

"But, I'm thirsty." Kimmie wrinkled her nose at Arizona.

"This is late for her. Just let her. It makes her a lot more civilized." Alice leaned over to whisper to Arizona.

They spent the early afternoon decorating the apartment. Hanging yellow streamers across the living room ceiling, setting up the party games on the kitchen table and making sure all of the snacks and desserts were put out on large platters.

"These balloon bouquets are so precious. The little ducks are perfect for April. What a wonderful idea." Karen looked towards Arizona and smiled. "It's so great to have to here helping April. It's so difficult being across the country at times like this."

"I'm glad to help. April's a great friend. Isn't this what a godmother is supposed to do?"

"A godmother?!" All four Kepner's glared wide-eyed at Arizona.

"Um. Yeah. April asked me a couple weeks ago. She thought it only made sense since I live nearby. You know, incase anything happens I'll be here right away."

"I didn't know you were a Christian." Kimmie questioned.

"Um, well. I'm not. I think April meant, you know –_ figuratively_."

"Wow. You wouldn't even know were related to that girl. We get replaced all the time." Kimmie said with a sour expression.

"Kimberly. Don't act that way. I'm sure April only had positive intentions." Karen put her arm around Kimmie's shoulders.

"I let each of them be godmother to my babies, and nobody even returns the favour!" Kimmie walked out of the living room and returned to the kitchen to refill her wine glass.

"No hard feelings." Alice smiled. "You'll do a great job I'm sure."

"I, I – didn't mean to step on anyone's toes."

"I'm sure you didn't, dear. It's fine. They are just a little competitive. It's a Kepner thing." Karen smiled.

Arizona felt so out of place. She awkwardly continued with the set up the rest of the party games.

"We'll just be in the kitchen." Karen smiled as she exited he room, followed by the two other redheads.

* * *

Three o'clock finally arrived, and almost everyone was there. Arizona glanced around the room making sure everything was in place.

"This looks great." She heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Calliope. Hi. Thanks." Arizona was overjoyed. Callie even brought Sofia, much to Arizona's surprise.

"Hi baby girl!" Arizona playful reached down and ruffled Sofia's hair.

"Thank you for coming. I'm sure April will be thrilled to see Sofia here, too."

"Mmhm. We're just going to get some snacks to tide this little girl over. See you in a bit." Callie smiled at Arizona as she walked away.

Family and friends began to gather in their living room, the time was approaching three thirty.

"Where is she? Shouldn't she be home by now?" Alice questioned, with her hands on her hips.

"Sometimes we can't get out right on time. She should be here soon." Arizona said while fidgeting with the food display on the counter.

The room was filled with family, friends and colleagues from Grey-Sloan; April must have noticed that no one she knew was at work this morning.

"Try texting her again." Libby urged Jackson.

"This jell-o cake is going to turn to mush." Added Karen.

Jackson had never heard of a jell-o cake before, but Karen had assured him that it was April's favourite.

_Where are you? On your way home?_

_Hospital._

_When are you leaving?_

_Can't._

Jackson was thoroughly confused as to why April was texting these cryptic one word answers.

"I think I'm just going to call. It might be faster." Jackson looked toward April's sisters and thenwalked down the hallway to their bedroom.

After two rings, April picked up.

"Hey, why can't you leave? You were only supposed to be in for a maximum of three hours to make up for lost time." April was breathing quite heavily into the phone. "April. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just. I'm at the hospital. I'm – I'm just. I think I'm in labour." April said breathlessly.

"Oh. Oh my god. Okay. I'll be right there."

"No. No Jackson. I'm – I'm not at Grey Sloan. I'm at St. Ambrose."

"Didn't I tell you that it wasn't a big deal to have a baby where you work? We do everything else there anyways." He tried to make a joke.

"No, Jackson. St. Ambrose. In – In, it's in California."


End file.
